Harry Potter and the Stalkers of the Night
by mickEmousina
Summary: In Harry Potter's seventh year, a mysterious killer is on the loose... but it isn't whom you may think.
1. Chapter 1

Harry Potter and the Stalkers of the Night

Disclaimer- I own absolutely nothing from the Harry Potter franchise. The only things that are mine are the storyline along with some original characters.

Black. Never in Harry's life on Privet Drive did he remember a night so dark as this one. Usually the sky was a certain shade of dark blue with a violet glow due to the street lamps of civilization. But not tonight. Harry looked out of his window and couldn't see an ounce of glow, nor a single star in the sky. Searching now, Harry couldn't even find the moon; it was almost as though they had all given up hope and left for another village.

Harry sighed as he retreated back to his bed. He laid down on top of the covers as he fingered the empty space beside him like a man waiting for his lover to return. 'Lover' he thought, 'Right'.

He closed his eyes, noting how little difference it produced. Through his eyelids, the faint red glow of his alarm clock annoyed and kept him from sleeping. _His alarm clock! _Harry's eyes shot open to look at the time. 3:33 AM. He was officially seventeen for over three hours yet he felt no change. He actually expected something this time: a surge of power or maybe a feeling of loss as the charm lifted from the Dursleys'. This was supposed to be his salvation: the defining moment where he could renounce all ties with the muggle world… and nothing.

Harry was shaken out of his reverie by a dull roar in the distance. Not the roar of an animal but that of a machine. Harry silently prayed it wasn't Fred or George who have come for a jailbreak.

Tap… tap… tap!

Harry looked around, wondering what could possibly be making that sound. His eyes scanned across the room: dresser, desk, window, Hedwig's empty cage… _the window. _He walked over towards the ledge and looked down.

Ron Weasley himself was looking up at him, his arm at the ready with another stone. Harry shook his head and opened the window.

"Sorry, Romeo, but I don't swing that way."

Ron gave Harry a look and said "You wish, Potter. C'mon, Hermione has the car down the road. Let's go!"

Harry receded into the bedroom and hurriedly looked around. He wasn't expecting this impromptu emigration. The thoughts and feelings running through his being were dizzying enough to make him have to grab the footboard of his bed to steady himself.

Finally he packed up his trunk with various books and clothes. On top lay the framed photograph of his parents dancing and waving in that winter park. Harry was about to close his trunk and charm it out the window when a thought occurred to him: he was never going to see the Dursleys again. A part of him rejoiced at the mere thought of it. Though he was downright itching to leave this place and never look back, he felt that he should give the Dursleys some kind of notice. He ripped a sheet of paper from a notebook and quickly drafted a note.

The trunk was packed and charmed down to the boot of Hermione's car. He crawled out of the window and began the slow descent down the ivy growing upon the side of the house. The summer wind began to pick up as the two bright eyes of Hermione's car opened up and glared at the Dursley house. Harry and Ron got into the car as they pulled away from Harry's old life.

Within the bedroom, the wind started to make the sheets and blankets dance. The note flew from its position on the desk to the bed as it opened up to let the whole world see its message.

**_Goodbye_**


	2. Chapter 2

Harry Potter and the Stalkers of the Night

Chapter 2

Disclaimer- same as before

Rumble, rumble… POP! Rumble, rumble… POP! Hermione's car was not the best made vehicle. Inside of the white metal beast Hermione was driving with her hands precisely at ten and two, he body twelve inches from the steering wheel. Ron was riding shotgun with his one foot propped up on the dashboard. Leaning back, he looked at Harry in the backseat, leaning against Hedwig's cage.

"So mate," Ron called back to Harry over the music playing on the stereo. "Wasn't quite expecting that one huh?"

Harry nodded, lifting his head from its position on Hedwig's cage. "You could say that. It might've been nice if you gave me, I don't know, five minutes warning…"

"Naw." Ron let out a laugh, "Gotta live in the moment, mate. Besides, I thought it would've been more entertaining… and I was right!" He grinned triumphantly first to Harry then over to Hermione. Hermione sighed and rolled her eyes from the driver's seat.

"I told him he should've owled, Harry." She called back to Harry, lowering the volume on the radio, "But did he listen? No…"

Ron scoffed, "you said no such thing!"

"Hermione cast a quick glare to Ron before putting her eyes back to the road. "You know I did, Ronald! Right after dinner when you got the bright idea in your head. My mum looked at you like you had three heads."

Ron shook his head "Well, you seemed pretty up for it at the time, so I wouldn't be talking if I were you…"

"So when's the wedding?" Harry piped in. Ron and Hermione's eyes widened as they looked first at each other then back to Harry. "Bill and Fleur's?" He elaborated with a hint of a smirk on his face. He struck a chord. An awkward moment passed where Ron and Hermione tried to hide their sighs of relief.

"Oh, er, next week. Huge thing at the burrow. I never knew Fleur had such a huge family…" Ron got a distant look in his eyes until Hermione slapped him against the arm. He recoiled and grabbed the spot she hit as Harry bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing.

They continued to drive in silence, bidding farewell to civilization as they entered the countryside. Looking out the window now, Harry finally saw one lone star. He let a small smile escape… until he realized it was an airplane. He leaned back against the headrest and let out a sigh, listening to the CD Hermione had playing

_This is because I can spell konfusion with a K  
And I can like it  
It's to dying in another's arms  
and why I had to try it  
It's to jimmy eat world  
and those nights in my car  
when the first star you see  
may not be a star  
I'm not your star  
Isn't that what you said?  
What you thought this song meant_

Harry had to lift his head a bit. "Uh Hermione, what are we listening to?"

"Something Corporate. This song's called Konstantine. I absolutely love them. Why? You think they're bad or something?" She asked him with an air that she didn't really care what his answer was.

"No, not at all… I just had a moment like the song." Harry tried to shrug it off. Why did he have to be so… what was the word Dudley used? Emo. Now he walked around with other kids purposely looking like him with thick rimmed glasses and dark hair. Why anyone would want to look like him was completely beyond Harry. He looked down to his hands and started to wring them, thinking of the year that lay ahead of him. Hogwarts would've never been the same. Ginny would never forgive him.

_This is to a girl who got into my head  
with all these fucked up things I did_

Harry wanted to either thank or punch the man singing for being so spot on about his life. He hadn't heard from Ginny all summer. According to Ron's last letter she was now dating Lee Jordan again. 'Good for her' he thought 'She needed to move on… and so do I'.

The next thing Harry knew they were pulling into Hermione's driveway. She lived in a modest home and as he got out of the car, Harry could feel the moist dew of the early morning in the air and under his feet. He took a breath and let it out slowly.

_Freedom… it's not all it's cracked up to be_

a/n- damn that chapter sucked. I just needed a transition until Hogwarts, or at least the wedding. Hopefully they'll get better. This is the awkward period of my writing where I'm not sure how to get from point a to point b, only that know I need to get there.


End file.
